Hello,

I would really need advice on this. I don't know what I should do anymore.

My 21-year old sister is suicidal and highly depressed and is isolating herself more and more. (I have other siblings and am currently living with my family, we all feel very concerned, both of my parents have cried last week due to the situation). She was hospitalized in psychiatry back in 2014 for two months after randomly leaving the house at night without saying to anyone where she was going (we had to call the police to find her). She literally has no friends, spends her entire time at home and is highly anxious in social situations. She has quit postsecondary school last week because she doesn't feel at her place in her program. She doesn't work because she doesn't feel like she's ready to. She also has a LOT of trouble sleeping at night (insomnia). My mother and I have tried so many different things to help her sleep which seems to be at the core of her issues, but she gets anxious about the idea of not sleeping at night.

She has never attempted to end her life before, but I still feel like she could attempt to by the things she is saying out of the blue (such as 'I'm trying to stay alive, but life is hard man'). You can tell that's she's tired, exhausted and at moments it feels like she is starting to have panic attacks or something because she is just breathing really hard to try to calm herself down at night. I've also surprised my mother hiding knives at home in unusual places to make sure that my sister doesn't find them.

My sister is already in the health care system. She has a psychiatrist, a nurse, etc. Yet, she doesn't really open up to them or to anyone else. My mother goes to some of her appointments with her, but it seems like it's not helping. I've tried to bring her with me when I go to university whenever she is just in the home not doing anything at all to make her "take a breath of fresh air" but she is just so sad, you can tell. She's not smiling, always walking her head down, not looking at people in the eyes.

Yesterday, I skipped university because she would be home alone (my mother had to do errands and my mother is a single mother and everyone else was at school at that moment) and I felt it would've been potentially dangerous to leave my sister alone at home so I skipped two classes to watch on her.

I don't know what to do. I'm a social worker, and I literally do not know what to do. I just want her to be happy and loved and fufilled. I am getting more and more worried about this.

Thank you if you're reading this. Any advice would be appreciated.